Customs agents stop driver with $614K in pot at border

By Robert Stanton |
August 19, 2013

U.S. Customs and Border Protection agents seized more than 613 pounds of pot with a street value of almost $614,000 at the U.S. border at Brownsville.

Photo By Customs and Border Protection

U.S. Customs and Border Protection agents seized more than 613 pounds of pot with a street value of almost $614,000 at the U.S. border at Brownsville.

To the untrained eye, it looked like normal farm equipment packed aboard a tractor and flatbed trailer at U.S. border at Brownsville.

Further inspection, however, uncovered a more potentially lucrative haul - more than 613 pounds of marijuana with a street value of almost $614,000, according to U.S. Customs and Border Protection.

When the vehicle and trailer pulled up to the checkpoint Friday at the Veterans' International Bridge, suspicious officers referred it to a secondary area for a closer look, according to a news release.

The officers found 300 packages hidden within the structure of the farm equipment, with a total combined weight of 613.6 pounds.

The 29-year-old driver was turned over to Homeland Security Investigations special agents for questioning. Officers seized the tractor-trailer and illicit weed.

"This load of dangerous drugs has been intercepted at the border as a direct result of the outstanding work our CBP officers do on the frontlines in protection of our nation," Michael Freeman, CBP Port Director in Brownsville, stated in the release. "I commend our officers for a great job with this seizure."